How to prevent recurrence after surgery?

  Children with congenital myotonic levator neck need some rehabilitation measures to prevent recurrence after the surgery. Usually, recurrence is mainly due to postoperative adhesions of the cut and released sternocleidomastoid muscle, or because only one of the stops of the sternocleidomastoid muscle was cut and released during surgery, but not both of them. The main reason for sternocleidomastoid adhesions is improper postoperative rehabilitation.  After surgery, the child’s head and neck tilt will not be corrected immediately, but will require a process. This recovery process requires rehabilitative training. The child is too young to take the initiative to rehabilitate, so the parents need to help and cooperate with the doctor to help the child to do some rehabilitative training treatment. At present, the rehabilitation measures to prevent the recurrence of congenital myotonic neck after surgery are: 1. Head stretching method: The treatment should be given about 3 days after surgery, by turning the head and neck to the healthy side 4~6 times a day, 15~20 times a time, basically the same as the conservative treatment of stretching therapy.  2.Cervical brace fixation method: The cervical brace is to fix the child’s head and neck in the upright position, or in the corrected position. For example, for a child with right-sided oblique neck, after surgery, the neck brace should be fixed in a neutral position, or a position where the head and neck are biased to the left.  3.Traction therapy: For older children, because the head and neck have been in a skewed position for a long time, they will not change immediately after surgery, so traction therapy is needed to gradually correct the head and neck to a neutral position.  4. Brace correction method: There are more braces to choose from, and different regions, different hospitals, and different doctors will have different recommendations on the use of braces. The main purpose of brace correction method is to fix the child’s head and neck in an orthopedic position to prevent recurrence.  There are many post-surgical rehabilitation methods, and there may be other methods or new methods, but whatever the method, the most important thing is to use it correctly, and to follow the discharge instructions on time. Some children are not cooperative enough, so parents need to be patient and careful to induce their children, not to discount or give up the rehabilitation treatment because the children are reluctant and cry, only persistence can prevent the recurrence of adhesions after surgery.